“You have to go,” Derrick insisted, his eyes frantic as he dug into his pocket. I didn’t have to ask who he was going to call. The sheriff had to be apprised of the situation. “You can’t be back here.”
“It’s a serial killer,” I said. “You have a serial killer.”
The look he shot me was withering. “I know what I have. You have to get out of here. You’re going to get me in trouble.”
I held up my hands and stepped back. “I guess it could be a spree killer,” I amended. “I mean ... maybe they were drug-dealing Santas or something.”
Derrick was in no mood for my fanciful imagination. “Go!”
This time I acquiesced.
3 Three
I watched the fallout from the discovery from my car, my phone in hand so I could keep Fish updated. He’d immediately ripped apart the news budget when he heard and dispatched a photographer to shoot from the other side of the railroad tracks. For now, I was stuck watching and waiting.
I was distracted when my phone rang and didn’t notice it was Eliot until I’d already swiped to answer.
“Hello, Pop-Tart,” he said, causing me to cringe.
“I hate it when you call me that,” I muttered.
Rather than engage in an argument, he chuckled. “What would you prefer I call you?”
“What’s wrong with Avery?”
“Nothing. Your name fits you. But I like the idea of having a nickname for you.”
“It doesn’t have to be Pop-Tart.”
“Do you prefer cupcake?”
“No.”
“Potato chip?”
That almost made me laugh, which was what he was going for, but I held it together. “No.”
“Pooky?”
“Eliot.” I kept my voice low as my temper threatened to come out and play. “Is there a specific reason you called?” I didn’t mean to be snippy with him — honestly, I loved him beyond reason, which was absolutely frightening to me — but my mind was on other things right now and I had no interest in playing games.
“You’re crabby.” He was quiet a moment. “Is something wrong?” He almost sounded as if he expected me to go off on a tangent. I knew what he was bracing himself for, but I had no intention of giving him what he wanted.
“I’m by the railroad tracks on Groesbeck.”
I could practically hear him mentally shifting gears. “That’s a random place to hang out.”
“We heard notification about a body over the scanner.”
“Ah.” He was probably nodding on the other end of the call, things coming together. “Did someone get hit by a train?”
“Maybe. They weren’t sure when I first arrived. The body was ... messed up. The dude was wearing a Santa suit, which was all kinds of weird. We were waiting for the medical examiner when something else happened.”
“The way you’re drawing it out makes me think you’re talking about something big.” He was all business now. “Do you need me to come out there?”
Absolutely not. I was more than capable of covering my own stories. Sure, we’d been more of a team than two people working in parallel fashion the past few months, but I was still capable of doing my job. “I know how to cover a story.”
“I didn’t say otherwise.”
“You insinuated it.”
“That’s your busy brain making things up.” His tone never changed and he remained calm. “What else happened?”
I told him in halting terms. I was still coming to grips with it myself. When I was finished, he was silent so long I thought I might’ve lost him.
“Eliot?”
He cleared his throat. “I’m still here,” he said finally. “I just ... that is freaky. What do you think happened?”
“There are only two options: We either have a serial killer or a mob hit.”
“You think the mob is going after mall Santas?”
“We don’t know they’re mall Santas. They could be dressed up for another reason.”
“Sex?”
I scowled. “That is gross and disturbing. Everyone knows that if you’re going to pick a Christmas theme for role play you go with the Grinch.”
That got him laughing. “I did not realize that. Thank you for the inspiration, though. I was just going to get some mistletoe and hang it over our bed. Now you’ve given me something else to think about.”
Despite my best efforts to remain surly, I smirked. “You should put it on the fan so it spins around and keeps us active.”
“Now I have two things to do before you get home. Seriously, why do you think the mob is a possibility?”
“Because these guys could’ve been dressed up as Santas to fly under the radar or something. They’re not releasing names just yet, but we have at least six dead guys. I think that number will be closer to eight by the time they sort it out. Derrick kicked me out before I could get a solid count.”
“Could you see any wounds?”
“The first guy looked mangled, as if he’d been chewed up and spit out. That’s why I assumed he was at least clipped by the train and dragged for a bit. The other bodies make me think otherwise.”
“Obviously.” He exhaled heavily. “Are you sure you don’t want me to come out there?”
It was a sweet offer. His presence of late, however, left me jittery and worried. “I’m okay. I won’t be here much longer. Once I get all the information they’re willing to share, I’m heading back to the office to write my story.”
“You could come here.”
I’d been using his pawnshop in downtown Mount Clemens to file my pieces. It allowed us to spend extra time together while avoiding the co-workers I hated. But ever since he announced he was going to propose, I’d backed off from writing there and embraced my desk at the newspaper office. He’s obviously picked up on that and wanted to see if he could return me to our previous pattern.
“I need to talk to Fish,” I replied. “This is going to be a big story. We need to come up with a plan.” I hesitated and then barreled forward. “We can have dinner when
